Saturday, March 14, 2009

Capturing Urban Decay

I saw this photographer's site over at Even Cleveland. Kevin Bauman has a portfolio of 100 Abandoned Houses in Detroit. As an urban planner and in my line of work, I'm fascinated by the changes in the economic fates of areas. And, when buildings are left to fodder, it's interesting to think about their role in the past. The families that lived there, the people who shopped there. Once, these homes were built by well-to-do residents of the Motor City, in neighborhoods that were presumably also well-to-do. Even having studied why these things happen, it still is kind of jarring to think about...how homes, buildings, and even towns and cities turn into places people don't want anymore...